What is there to say? That was dreadful last night. There won’t be much commentary on the links today, because the players frankly deserve anything bad that is written about them today. Game stories from the house of horrors are served up by Bob Hohler…Jeff Horrigan…Steven Krasner…David Heuschkel…Don Amore (From the Yankees perspective) and David Borges. The defense once again was atrocious. Tony Massarotti takes a look at the struggles of Nomar Garciaparra, a key culprit last night with two errors. Sean McAdam says that it is time for the players to step up and start earning their paychecks. Dan Shaughnessy says the season is over. Steve Buckley (subscription only) concurs, putting blame on the manager, who won’t criticize his players. Gordon Edes says a major difference between the clubs was how aggressive the Yankees were last night. Nick Cafardo and Michael Silverman look at the bad outing by Derek Lowe.

Massarotti also takes a look at Tom Gordon, who is healthy again, and wants to be a closer once again. Christopher Price says there is no excuse for the Sox shoddy defense. Buckley looks at Tim Wakefield’s return to Yankee Stadium. Silverman says the Sox got a close up and personal look at the Yankees murderer’s row, which wasn’t in evidence back in April. Hohler’s notebook looks at Francona’s decision to “stand behind” the struggling Kevin Millar. Horrigan’s notebook looks at David Ortiz not worrying about his All Star status. The ProJo notebook also looks at Ortiz. Heuschkel’s notebook looks at the return of Pokey. Amore’s notebook looks at a parasite eating Jason Giambi. Borges’ notebook also looks at Pokey.

From the NY Papers:

J.P.Pelzman says the Sox let down Derek Lowe with shoddy defense. Dave Caldwell agrees that the defense was not worth a darn for the Sox. (get it?) Joe Gergan looks at an infield of slop for the Sox. Mike Lupica looks at the Boston “E” Party. Kevin Kernan says the Sox are more built for a beer league than the American League. George King looks at the Yankees roughing up the Sox. Tyler Kepner says the Sox basically handed this one to the Yankees.

Roger Rubin notes that the Sox remain upbeat despite the drubbing last night. Michael Morrissey says that Nomar has been help for the Red Flops. (how original) he also looks at the “putrid” defense behind Derek Lowe. Jon Heyman says it was just more of the same in this one-sided “rivalry’. Bill Madden takes a little more objective look at things. Mike Vaccaro says the Sox always do their best work in April. They weren’t a match for the Yankees of June. Peter Botte and Lenn Robbins note that George Steinbrenner isn’t counting the Sox out yet. Gergen’s notebook says Manny isn’t going to lose any sleep over this series.

Dave Anderson has a nice piece on the peaceful resolution to the Don Zimmer/Pedro Martinez fiasco from the playoffs last year. Included is this excerpt from Zimmer’s new book:

The next day, Zimmer apologized to the world, and in his book, he tells how Mart

I don’t think I can do this each day of the series, but here’s the links from the NY Papers on the Sox:

Free registration may be required to read some of these stories, or you can use bugmenot.com.

Mike Vaccaro says the time is now for the Yankees to put away the Red Sox in the AL East race. Mike Lupica hopes ARod does a little better against the Red Sox this time around. Murray Chass says there is no possible way that the Red Sox can catch the Yankees. Bob Klapisch looks at the possibility of an early knockout for the Yankees, and how George Steinbrenner was pressuring Brian Cashman to add a big piece to his team in time for this series. George King has Steinbrenner saying that it is payback time. Shaun Powell says the two series in April are long forgotten. Anthony McCarron looks at the struggles of the Red Sox. Joel Magaraci lists out 10 things wrong with the Red Sox. Does he get a cut from Shaughnessy for listing number 10? Ken Davidoff says the Red Sox have lacked intensity since the April series. Mike Celizic looks at how the Yankees reversed a 5 game deficit in two months, and tells us how the Red Sox cannot do the same in three months.

Steve Serby gets some sampling of talk around New York about the series. McCarron also looks at how the Yankees have taken off since being swept in April. Brian Costello has members of the Red Sox saying that tonight is just another game. Pete Iorizzo has a look at Keith Foulke. Bill Finley looks at the impact of David Ortiz on the Red Sox. Ken Davidoff looks at Manny Ramirez, taking everything stride after what happened in the offseason. Locally, Win Bates looks at how important this series is for the Red Sox.

Chris Perkins of the Palm Beach Post looks at the flirting between Mark Blount and the Miami Heat. The Heat and the Sixers (because of Jim O’Brien) seem to be the most likely candidates for Blount to leave the Celtics for, unless Doc Rivers can talk him into staying here.

Bill Simmons explains his vision for his new Page2 website. He plans to incorporate a lot of the features that made his old BSG site such a rousing success. He also manages to squeeze another column out of Hoosiers. The big news here is the upcoming release of a special edition DVD of the movie.

Yes, I enjoyed Mark Cuban’s rant on his blog yesterday about “Sports Gossip Columnists”, like Sam Smith and Peter Vecsey. He also had some kind words to say about Antoine Walker.

The Red Sox and Yankees renew acquaintances tonight at Yankee Stadium. Steve Buckley puts together a lengthy look at how the Yankees have rebounded from their early season struggles. Gordon Edes looks at the Yankees, who have been on an incredible hot streak since getting cuffed around by the Sox in April. Michael Silverman also has a look at how things have changed since the last meeting between the teams. David Heuschkel looks at the Sox trying to rise above the 27-26 record they’ve posted since May 1st. David Borges says the Sox should make up some ground this week. Nick Cafardo has the Sox hoping this series gives them the boost they need, and looks at Kevin Youkilis as he prepares for his first Red Sox/Yankees experience. Jon Couture also has a bit on Youkilis. Don Amore writes about the Yankees looking to settle a score with this series. Gerry Callahan (subscription only) looks at the non-production of Kevin Millar, pretty much making the point that it is put up or shut up time for Millar. Art Martone looks at the frustrations of Theo Epstein as he looks over his club’s performance. Lenny Megliola checks in with Aaron Boone, now with the Indians. John Tomase compares Curt Schilling to Roger Clemens. Michael Gee (subscription only) says that being behind the Yankees puts the Sox in a dangerous position. He says they need to win the division. Period. For those who say that making the playoffs is the most important things, Gee has some words for you:

This notion is a pernicious rationalization by and for born losers. Forget the fact it hasn't worked for the past three Red Sox wild card teams. Teams can't be built for the postseason. They can only be built to play well all the time.

Tomase also has a look at what the return of Trot Nixon has meant to the Sox. Silverman’s notebook looks at some Red Sox charitable work for the victims of the floods in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Cafardo’s notebook says that Sox bullpen coach Euky Rojas can empathize with what Jose Contreras recently went through.

James Murphy looks at the Bruins search for the next Patrice Bergeron. Steve Conroy says that the Bruins are confident in the abilities of their scouts.

John Molori talks with the Score’s Scott Cordischi, who has some fightin’ words for WEEI.

NESN has Red Sox/Yankees at 7:00. FSN will have Michael Holley on the 6:30 show and Alan Greenberg at 10:00. CN8’s SportsPulse will have a 1on1 with Patriots Linebacker Rosevelt Colvin tonight at 10:00.